This invention relates to apparatus for ensuring that electrical circuit boards (e.g., printed circuit boards or "PCBs") are connected to one another only in the intended manner in order to prevent erroneous interconnection of possibly incompatible circuit boards.
There is increasing interest in PCB configurations in which subsidiary PCBs (sometimes known as "daughter boards") are connected on both sides of a main PCB (sometimes known as the "mother board"). This configuration may be used to render the PCB configuration more compact, thereby shortening the circuit paths in the apparatus and allowing the apparatus to operate at greater speed.
It is often desirable in such PCB configurations to ensure that the daughter boards on opposite sides of the mother board are compatible with one another without regard for the location of the daughter boards on the mother board. This may be important to prevent erroneous circuit operation and/or damage to the circuitry.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide apparatus for ensuring that daughter boards on opposite sides of a mother board are compatible with one another without regard for the location of the daughter boards relative to the mother board.
It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for preventing daughter boards from being mounted on opposite sides of a mother board except in intended, compatible pairs.